Tell the story about your organization's innovations in customer service since the beginning of July 2015 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Over 96% customer retention. How many companies can make that claim? Billhighway’s dynamic Client Care team is on the front lines day in and day out, to ensure that clients are not only satisfied but their expectations exceeded. In fact, the average star rating on our customer service surveys has increased from 4.73 to 4.87 (out of 5) over the last year.

What’s different about the Billhighway Client Care team is it operates as a full-fledged problem-solving function, not a numbers- based one. Customers who contact the team with questions:

• Reach a live person, based in Troy, Michigan, by pressing a single number – two at most
• Can talk or exchange emails with people who don’t use scripts, canned responses or templates
• Interact with experts whose goal is not only to answer questions but to ensure customer happiness

Billhighway emphasizes two measurables: email and phone call response times. Customers must not remain on hold more than two minutes, and emails are to be answered within one business day.

Client Care offers our customers a customized training approach that may include a combination of in-person, learning management system (LMS) or webcast training. The LMS is used to create training videos and interactive software simulations, and offers clients the flexibility to access material 24/7 via an online portal. Since the launch of the LMS, training participation rates have increased from 21% to 49%.

This past year, we have implemented a training certification program to ensure our team has top notch training skills and our clients receive a consistent training experience. Upon receiving certification, the team member has a certification logo added to their email signature and receives an increase in their base pay.

The team is always looking for ways to inject fun and delight into the customer experience. Last December, incoming callers were serenaded over the phone with holiday favorites including “All I Want for Christmas is You”, “Santa Baby” and the “Hanukkah Song.”

Billhighway values professional development and offers a Strides program, aimed at recognizing achievements in Client Care as well as a specialized career development program. Mastery of Billhighway software functionality on one or more facets of the product are examples of Strides skill sets. The program encourages team members to stretch to receive master status which results in a pay increase. With the career development program, each Client Care team member selects an area of the business they are interested in and work with that team on projects and tasks for one day each week. Last year, we had five Client Care team members transition into other roles with teams they had trained with, successfully bringing a service-oriented mindset with them.

Client Care Reunion

Since so many Client Care team members have transitioned into new roles throughout the company, we decided to bring together all 16 current and transitioned Client Care team members for a reunion! The teams shared their experiences and stories, and even held a voting for honors such as ‘Best Smile’, ‘Biggest Social Butterfly’, and ‘Heart of Gold’. Keeping the teams close and interactive helps strengthen the force of the team since many inquiries require cross-functional support.